What in the World is this Blog About?

    Deuteronomy 6:7- 9 reads “Impress [the commandments] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” In America and most other countries around the world, the education of the next generation is highly valued.  The universal principle of the education system is to better equip the children of today for life tomorrow. The believer has an important decision to make because the Bible puts so much emphasis on the value of raising your Children to follow Christ.  Deuteronomy 6:7-9 is one of those passages that explicitly deals with the education of children.  Christian parents must, in obedience to Christ, as well as to the state, follow through on this education. 
    In seeking this education, the American public has sought to solve the need for by the creation of government- run schools, private schools, and home schooling.  For Christians, this decision of where to send your children to learn these academic skills is especially important.  The three main types of schooling: public, private, and homeschool all have a biblical and moral philosophy behind them.  Each Christian parent, when making the decision of what school to send their children to, is inevitably making a decision on how the Bible defines raising your Children to walk with Christ.
    All of these schools’ philosophies need to be greater explained to the general public of Christian parents so that they can make the best decision for their children.  Each has strengths, and invariably, weaknesses, but there is a greater biblical philosophy for the Christian behind each of the types of school.  The decision of the parent is therefore to take the information that is available to them and make the best decision that they possibly can for their child. 
    The working definition of a public school is any school that is government funded.  This includes the charter school, which even thought it is different in practice, the government funding and state run programs stay essentially the same. Created so that children in the inner city can have better educational opportunities, the charter school is government funded (Chen, 1).
     The private school, for the purpose of discussion, is any Christian- based school.  These schools are not funded by the state; rather they are managed and run by a church group, denomination, or any other authority.  There are of course, other types of private schooling including nominally Catholic schools, and secular private schools, but to keep the trajectory intact, the private school will be exclusive to the Christian school. 
    Home schooling is defined as the educating of children at home.  This is usually either done by a parent, by a tutor, or with textbooks of software programs.  The homeschool category does not include those who are involved in “unschooling”, but instead, just the children that are being educated in a disciplined and orderly manner.  Most Christian parents do not conceive unschooling as an alternative to education.  Therefore, to give the subject of “unschooling” too much merit would be frowned upon by many Christian parents. 
    All three of these types of schooling have implications that reach not only the philosophy of education, but also the Christian parent’s role in this process.  Therefore, by looking at the different types of schooling, a parent can make a full assessment of the type of schooling that is best for their child and that matches their view of the role of the Christian parent in education.  With each type comes a set of positives and negatives, but each must be put through the lens of scripture in order to make a critical decision.
    The public school is a widely misunderstood institution in America.  Many advocates of both private and home schooling believe that American children in public school are below grade level (Klicka, 28).  Some clarification is needed before the philosophy of public school can be understood to it’s full extent because of this misunderstanding.  
    Ninety percent of American school children are in the public school system (Chen, 1).  This means that the majority of all American children, from every religion, socioeconomic class, and home situation are in the public school system.  A closer look at this reveals that the demographics of both private and homeschooling are very different from the public school system.  In, “Homeschooling: The Right Choice”, by Klincka, he writes that eighty-five percent of homeschoolers are Christians (Klincka, 106).  The number for Christian school is similar.  Therefore, it is reasonable to surmise that the reason for this trend comes from the Judaeo- Christian beliefs of the family, not from the education type.  A reason for this hypotheses may be that generally, biblically faithful parents are more adamant about the need for their children’s education to be the best it can be.  The biblical support for this comes from many scriptures, including Deuteronomy chapter 6, where parents are commanded to teach and train their children about spiritual truths.   So, how do the public school children of Christian parents fair?  The answers are somewhat surprising. 
    A close look at the educational achievements of these public schoolers, according to the New York Times, actually has more to do with family income level than with the type of education that is practiced (Rampbell, 1).  Because public schools are more diversified than the upper- middle class background of most Christian and homeschooling families, the income levels of the group will have outliers on both sides of the spectrum.  By averaging these scores from all different income levels, using Rampbell’s charts, we can reason that within a public school there will be outliers that will bring down the average scores of public school children (1).  Because the public school naturally draws from all different backgrounds and income levels, the average is skewed by these extreme cases of outliers on each end of the income spectrum.  Thus, it can be reasoned that public school versus private or homeschool is not the measure of how well a student will do, but the correlation is found in the income level of the individual families.
    After the misconception is dispelled that the intelligence level of the public school child is significantly lower, the Christian is then free to evaluate the philosophy of the public school from a biblical perspective, as opposed to by fear that their children are not being properly educated.  The most common citation of a biblical reference about the public school is that Christians should be in the world but not part of it (John 17:15).  However, this argument is invariably weak because in nature because of the many other passages that demonstrate that we are not to be of the world as others are (John 17:16).  This therefore, undermines the argument and makes a good biblical argument for the other two types of schooling.  The philosophy for public schooling is at best shallow, and at worst an argumental fallacy because this argument runs so deep within the Christian education community.
    Many proponents of public schooling seek to force verses that aren’t in the text on to the subject of education.  The fact is, the Bible is relatively silent on the type of schooling that is most biblical.  One of the only explicit references to any type of education is in the book of Luke.  During one passover feast, Jesus began to listen to the Pharisees in the temple and then asked questions afterwards, much like a student (Luke 2:41-52).  These people that Jesus was being “taught” by and asked questions of would later nail Him to a cross because of his message.  Proponents of the public school would point to the fact that this is most like the public school because he was being taught by those who did not hold to the Truth of God as He did.  Arguably, this is most like the public school that leaves the children of our nation “to a a cold and unbelieving secularism” (Cummings,4).   
    Beyond direct citation of biblical passages, those who support public education cling to morally and biblically based principles for the schooling of their children.  The book, Education: Opposing Viewpoints, compiled and edited by Mary Williams, discusses some of those such principles.  One of the main points of one such article in this collection is “Children in the public school must learn to adapt to many types of people and personalities (Williams, 92)”.  It is then argued, by logical progression, by the author that this makes them more able to compete in the world in which they live (92).  Another of these principles that is argued in the article is “School is a child’s first chance of independence, the first chance to discover that they are not the [center] of the universe and to adapt accordingly” (Williams, 91).  Again, this is a  biblical principle which is constant with Colossians 2:3, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”  In conclusion, the biblical view of public school has less to do with the concentration on individual verses in the text, but on a larger view of the bible and it’s principles.  The result is that the Christian, though not having as many verses as the advocates of Christian and homeschooling, can feel fully equipped to show that this educational philosophy does have biblical merit.
    The public school is not the only misinterpreted educational institution that has biblical grounds and implications.  One misnomer that exists in the private school is that the Christian school is merely a public school with a few Bible classes.  This is a myth that is used in support of the other two types of school to discredit the private school as nothing more than an expensive public educational facility.  This myth, as with the previous one, is not true and equally ridiculous.  David Cummings supports this claim by stating “a man cannot rightly order his own soul unless he exercises himself day and night in the Word of God” (108).  The basis for the Christian school, he argues, is to educated while also faithfully dividing the truth of God’s word (Cummings, 4).  Due to this belief and foundation that Cummings points to in his book, the Christian private school experience hinges on the ability of the teachers and administrators to adequately teach and implant the truth of God’s word into the hearts of the students that are being taught about every subject.
    Again, the consequence of this statement of faith does not dismiss that there may be exceptions to this rule.  For the purpose of argument however, the other types of private school that are not biblically faithful are excluded in this study.  Therefore, to understand the philosophies of the Christian school, because of the possibility of a school not being biblically faithful, one must accurately dispel this myth to accurately look at the implications of the Christian private school.  Therefore, it is more important for the parent to look at the biblical faithfulness of the school before making any decision on whether it fits the standard definition of a “private Christian school”. 
    In his book, The Basis for a Christian School, David Cummings argues that “it is impossible for us to prevent our children from being spiritually affected for better or worse during the hours of classroom exposier while they are away from home” (2).  Because Christian parents are supposed to teach their children the way of the Lord and to walk in it (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 20-25).  Christian school advocates argue that the Christian parent should make sure that the education that their Children receive is biblically and scripturally faithful because children spend most of their week in school activities.  The supporters of Christian schools cite the biblical principle of God being the source of all true knowledge (Cummings, 21).  an education founded on biblical principles of education, while teaching truth of the gospel to each child is the logical outflow of the Christian school is.  Cummings argues the impossibility of children not being affected by their educational background (2).  To further demonstrate and argue his point, Cummings continues by quoting J. Gresham Marshall.  “A truly Christian education is possible only when Christian conviction underlies not a part, but the whole curriculum of the school.  True learning and true piety go hand in hand, and Christianity embraces the whole of life-these are great central convictions that underlie the Christian school... I can see little consistency in a type of Christian activity which preaches the gospel on the street corner and at the ends of the earth, but abandons them to a cold and unbelieving secularism” (Cummings, 4).  This belief transcends all subject lines and blurs them together under the idea that they are all equally God’s truth.  This belief is the same one that was held by the people of the middle ages (Cummings, 95).  To this end, Cummings concludes that the most biblically faithful and morally productive form of schooling is the private Christian school.
    The last type of education that the Christian must consider is the home education system.  One major myth that surrounds the homeschooling culture is that home schooled students cannot be, and will not be able to socially fit in with their colleges once they leave the home.  Conversely, children in the homeschool system are more likely to be more adept to assimilate with people older than they are.  This is of course, a good thing because when the Children graduate and go into the work force, they will be more equip to deal with their superiors (Zysk, 6).  Part of the reason for this, as Manfred B. Zysk states, is that “homeschooling allows parents the freedom to associate with other interested parties, visit local businesses, museums, libraries, etc., as part of school, and to interact with people of all ages in the community” (Zysk, 7).  Instead of children in public school that are segregated by age (Zysk, 8), the children of homeschoolers are more equipped to deal with people that are not their own age.  This of course, translates to increased success in the work force, and increased potential to help non-believers by way of their social interactions.
    Along with the biblical scholarship that private Christian schools stress, the supporters of home schooling also agree.  Many of the arguments that homeschool proponents make are similar to the supporters of Christian school.  Klinka’s “Homeschooling: the Right Choice” and Cummings’ “The Basis for the Christian School” agree on many of their basic premises.  However, biblical support for homeschooling differs on several levels. Klinka, in his book, argues, “The lengthy review of Bible verses, and the parents’ responsibility to train their children in God’s ways, leaves little doubt whether or not we should send our children to public schools” (103).  Even though Klinka does not explicitly state that the private school is unbiblical, he seems to imply it by his stress on the parent’s job to educate their children.  He also points out that “85% of homeschoolers are Christians. ‘They want their children to be biblically literate’”, something that parents, and parents alone are responsible for (Klinka, 106).  This further supports the conclusion that Klinka comes to regarding the private schooling system.  He seems to imply that not only are the public schools failing to do their job of education (Klinka, 28), but that also the private school is failing because he refuses to explicitly deal with the philosophies of the private Christian school.
    After looking at the three main types of schooling, the result is that the Christian sees that there are biblical philosophies behind each of them.  Then, the Christian parent, is free to make a biblical decision on the education of their children based on what they know and what is the most important to them.  This also lets the parent of the Christian child understand the philosophies so they not only can make an educated choice, but also so they can see that they do not have to feel guilty for whatever choice they make.  Conversely, the studying of these schooling alternatives frees the parent to make the best decision for their children without the guilt that others may put upon them.
Works Cited
Chen, Grace. "Public School vs. Private School." Public School Review. Public School     Review, 12 04 2007. Web. 24 Oct  2010. <publicschoolreview.com>.

Cummings, David. The Basis for a Christian School. 1982. Print.

E., Mary. Education: opposing viewpoints. Greenhaven Pr, 2005. Print.

J., Christopher, and D. James. Home Schooling: The Right Choice : An Academic,     Historical, Practical, and Legal Perspective. B & H Pub Group, 2001. Print.

New International Version . International Bible Society, Editor. : Zondervan Corporation,     1984.

Rampbell, Catherine. "SAT scores and Family Income." New York Times Economics.     New York Times, 27 08 2009. Web. 24 Oct 2010.     <economix.blogs.nytimes.com>.

Unruh, Bob. "Study: Homeschoolers Score 37 Points Higher." World Net Daily. WND, 11     08 2009. Web. 24 Oct 2010. <WebNetDaily.com>.

Zysk, Manfred. "Homeschooling and the Myth of Socialization." LewRockwell. Lew     Rockwell, 16 December 1999. Web. 24 Oct 2010. <LewRockwell.com>.